| Show A NEW tunnelling TUN NELLING MACHINE t A bore within a bore and the rock is broken out in pieces and chunks J A new and novel tunnelling tun nelling machine has been invented by an idaho man and its application will be watched watch edwith with much interest by mining men all over the world several tunnel driving machines have been devised during the past five or six years but none of them have been adopted and utilized in the west as yet as far as is known the day will come however when tunnelling tun nelling machines will be in almost as common use as is the machine drill and it may be that the idaho man has an invention which will prove to be a complete success A special from wallace idaho to the mining review has the following to say regarding this new invention norman ebbley of wallace idaho formerly master mechanic of the old dominion copper mine at globe ariz and the frisco mine at gem idaho has perfected a tun nel boring machine that will it is claimed by the inventor greatly reduce the cost of mining and railroad work besides doing it more safely and quickly he has applied for a patent and will go to washington D C in a short time to build a big machine for demonstration purposes ebbley says his device will average from twenty five to fifty feet a day whereas now the record in the coeur calenes dA lenes in mine tunneling by power drills and blasting is ten feet a day As no blasting is required this eliminates one of the dangers and a large part of the cost of mining no gases collect to hinder progress of the work three men on a shift can operate the machines whereas seven men are now needed to oper ate drills and to muck from the face of a tunnel the machine drills a circular hole from eight to twenty five feet in diameter it will go through my any ground that a machine drill will work in the track is laid and the timbers placed as the machine proceeds from to horsepower is required to operate the borer but the cost of this is offset by the saving in men powder and time the shovel removes the muck so that the face is clean at all times the machine is different from any now in use A large hollow shaft is mounted on a carrying frame running on wheels on the mine track at the head of the shaft are radial arms carrying different drilling machines of special design for cutting channels in the rock there are three complements of drills the outer set cutting the channel that determines the size of the bore another set cuts a channel in the rock or earth a foot or two inside the line of the outer channel A third set cuts a still smaller ring in tho th rock other sets may be used hammers pound against the rock with smashing smas liing force as the channels are cut thus breaking out ont the rock and earth and allowing it to fall to the floor of the tunnel A shovel that has a reciprocating motion with accelerated speed to the rear gathers up the muck and throws it behind the machine the shovel is handled by an air cylinder equipped with an especially designed valve gear railroad contractors and mining men in the coeur calenes dA lenes who have examined the machine are of the opinion that it means a new force in tunnel work as the objectionable features of boring apparatus now in use are eliminated and in addition the new equipment will save time and money in operation on long bores |
